Why Are Millions of Americans Preparing for Doomsday?

Why Are Millions of Americans Preparing for Doomsday?

Economic Collapse Blog

All over America, there are millions of Americans that are quietly preparing for doomsday. They are turning spare rooms into long-term food storage pantries, they are planting survival gardens, they are converting their homes over to alternative sources of energy, they are taking self-defense courses and they are stocking up on just about anything you can imagine. They are called "preppers", and their numbers have absolutely exploded in recent years. In fact, you might be living next door to one and never even realize it. According to a recent Daily Mail article, there are approximately 3 million preppers in the United States today. Others believe that the true number is significantly higher than that. This movement has become so popular that there are now even television shows being done about preppers. The most popular is probably "Doomsday Preppers" on the National Geographic Channel. This movement is still growing and is not going to go away any time soon. In fact, as the world continues to become even more unstable it is likely that a lot more Americans will find themselves becoming preppers in the years ahead.

So what exactly are all these people so concerned about? Exactly why are there millions of Americans that are feverishly preparing for doomsday?

Well, the truth is that you will never find two preppers that are exactly alike. Some are deeply concerned about the potential for natural disasters and believe that we are now entering into a time when there will be catastrophic earth changes. Other preppers believe that terrorism is the most significant threat to our way of life. Killer pandemics, an EMP attack, World War III, martial law, solar megastorms, asteroid strikes and societal chaos are some of the other things that some preppers are worried about.

Of course an economic collapse is one of the biggest concerns for preppers, and without a doubt the U.S. economy is deeply troubled. A collapse of the financial system would change all of our lives permanently.

But it isn't just preppers that are concerned about these things.

A recent survey conducted by National Geographic asked Americans the following question....

"Which of the following, if any, do you think might happen in the United States in the next 25 years? Please choose all that apply."

While my thoughts on how we as Americans should deal with disasters may differ from others thoughts, I present them here:

1. Our Government was instituted to provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and instill the blessings of liberty to ourselves and out posterity.....Job 1 is to take care of our own. I get angry when I see little kids crying in America because they are terrified, or starving. In fact, I become near-violent.

2. I believe that our Navy should maintain more than two "Ships of Mercy". It took more than three weeks before the USNS Comfort arrived to support the disaster following Katrina: Comfort deployed on September 2, 2005, after only a two-day preparation, to assist in Gulf Coast recovery efforts after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Starting in Pascagoula, Mississippi and then sailing to New Orleans, Comfort personnel saw 1,956 patients total. USNS Comfort returned on October 13, 2005 after its 7 week deployment. Katrina hit on August the 29th.

3. I believe that our Army and Air Force should maintain the ability to airlift, convoy or otherwise transport any amount of food, water, and relief supplies to any point on the map of the United States; for however long that it may be needed.

4. I believe that the States should be the first responders, but that the Feds should be ready to reinforce the states as needed.

5. The whole Katrina bullshit incident. The State and local Gov. failing as it did, and the Feds not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings should have been treated as a high crime, and the perpetrators should have been tried in a Court of Law. Fucking reporters were able to get in. They fed and watered themselves. What stopped the State of Louisiana from staging an Airborne assault of first responders? What stopped the surrounding states from doing the same???? And why did the Feds not go to that measure after day two?

6. New Orleans is unique among American cities. It's populace is unique, and every other thing about it is unique. Mississippi did not have these same issues, nor did Alabama or Texas or Florida. One big reason is that the density of the citizens in those other areas was nothing close to New Orleans. Another reason is that New Orleans had a large population who were dependent on the Government for their very welfare. The majority of the victims in New Orleans were those who depend on the Government for damn near everything. They did not want to leave for fear that they might somehow lose their benefits for a few weeks or a month. How many died due to that calculus?

My bottom line: When disaster strikes, our National Guard, supported by our Federal Forces should descend upon the scene with such overwhelming force that no child is left in fear. No mother will need worry about food or water. No Father will need fear for his family's safety.

It is a high standard, but I believe that this is the standard that we should expect from our collective Government.

No government agency fares well under pressure. Their thousands of pages of carefully prescribed procedures are written by geeky skinny necked bureaucratic worms who have never sweat for a living don't know what grease and dirt feels like or has had a callus on their tender hands. Those carefully thought out procedures only get in the way of people who actually do things.

We prepare for floods, fires, storms, riots and earth quakes because it is the practical thing to do. Nobody anticipates a fire in their kitchen or their shop but the prepared people have a fire extinguisher handy in those locations anyway. Dilberts expect the government to help them and are totally useless in an emergency.

Life Member of Wisconsin Libertarians, WGO, GOA, JPFO, NRA, American Legion and VFW

I have to agree with bellson on all his pionts and the survey BB quotes are what I think most prepared people subscribe to. But I myself just want to be prepaired for anything, guess it's the Boy Scout in me. Hell with all the things that can happen in this world, it's only prudent to have food stocks that will last for a month minimum and the things that will help you make it through most anything short of your house blowing away, or the world ending. I'm not paranoid about anything but being prepared for extended power outages, major storms, quakes and huricanes if that pertains to your areas, and just any other major disruption of every day life for an extended period is just a common sense thing to do. You never know how extensive or long lasting some disasters could be and how long it might be before help is there. I don't want to be standing around starving or freezing or defenseless while I'm waiting for relief. Yup I've got a small stash of supplys in a cave that I can live on for a >month along with a survival 22, ammo,first aid supplys ect, ect, but no major, fanatical survivilist cache, just all the basics you'd need to survive on and be quite comfey for an extended period and all in a couple 20mm cans. That's all I need, more worried about natral disasters than anything else. And I just have a good stock of stuff at home for such senarios. Plus 50 years of top shelf camping gear and near that many years experiance in the back country to depend on if need be. If the world ends, it won't matter anyhow!! I think I'd be just fine no matter what happens and under most any curminstance you could possibly imagine, but I'm sure as hell not going to loose any sleep worrying about it and get all crazy about it. Some people are just are over the top and it consumes there whole life fretting about it, not me, I'll just handle what ever happens when it happens with out worrying about it.

I am in a different frame of mind tonight. I have re-read this thread, and want to offer a few additional thoughts for your consideration.

"Why Are Millions of Americans Preparing for Doomsday?"

Because they can.

Because they have access to a lot of information that is unprecedented in the history of the world as we know it.

Because they fear the intentions of the elected few.

Because the distrust the "system".

Because the President seems to support the Class Warfare crap that is fueling the "Occupy Movement".

Because the people that they know and look up to in their particular world are also really scared.

Because we are bereft of Leadership.

Mostly, I think, because we do not see anything that makes us hopeful that the next four years will be any better than the last four years.

Sadly, I think most Preppers feel that they have no further influence on the course of our nation any longer. And that is the most distressing to me. Without these folks, we are lost. These are the ones who can and will make choices that others think are "un-thinkable".

4 more years of the current regime, without the constraints of "playing nice" to win another term, scares the living sh*t outa me. It's obvious that the General Public has ZERO clue as to the possible outcome on "us" the US citizen, if he wins.

Enforcement, NOT Amnesty!!!!!!

"If they’re going to come here illegally, apply for & receive assistance through a corrupted Government agency encouraging this lawless behavior, work under the table & send billions of dollars each year back to their families in Mexico, while bleeding local economies dry, protest in our streets waving their Mexican flags DEMANDING rights, while I have to press ’1′ for English, then they need to be shipped back to where they came from!" -Chad Miller

What bellson said...

I can not add anything..
You youngguns hang in there.
I am going too my roof with a case of beer and watch the damn show, that is coming. Oh yes it is..
I am bringing the dog. The old lady is on her own.
Too much bitching.

"Man needs but two things to survive alone in the woods. A blow up female doll and his trusty old AK-47" - Thomas Jefferson 1781